Bramvia — Business Central Experts

Business Central Essentials vs Premium: the $30-per-user mistake we keep finding in US implementations

Essentials $80, Premium $110 per user per month. Premium adds manufacturing and service management — and nothing else. A US distributor was sold Premium for every user when Essentials was enough. How to decide, why you can't mix the two, and how to right-size before you sign.

Short answer: Business Central has two full-user plans. Essentials ($80 per user per month) covers finance, sales, purchasing, inventory, warehouse, projects and CRM basics. Premium ($110) adds exactly two things: manufacturing (BOMs, production orders, capacity, MRP) and service management (service orders, contracts, technician scheduling). That is the whole difference. If you don't manufacture and don't run a field-service operation, Premium buys you nothing — yet we regularly find US companies paying it for every user. All full users in a company must be on the same plan, so the choice is company-wide. And the read-only role — approving, viewing dashboards, checking stock — is Team Members at $8, not a full license at all.

What Premium adds — and what it doesn't

A distributor, a wholesaler, a services firm, a construction company, a non-profit, a retailer: Essentials. A manufacturer or a company dispatching service technicians under contract: Premium.

The case we keep seeing

A distribution company in Virginia, coming from SAP, had Business Central implemented by a large US consulting firm. Every user was on Premium. The company doesn't manufacture and has no service operation. The overpayment: $30 per user per month, every month, with no functionality used in return. On 20 users that is $7,200 a year — indefinitely — for nothing.

They asked us for a small paid test first, then engaged us part by part; two years on we still work together. The licensing fix was the least technical and most valuable thing we did.

Why it happens

• The partner's default. Premium is easier to sell ("it has everything") and pays more. Nobody asks whether you'll use it.
• "Just in case." The company thinks it might manufacture one day. You can upgrade the day you do.
• Nobody counted roles. A company of 30 people needs perhaps 8-12 full users; the rest are Team Members. Licensing all 30 as full users is the second version of the same mistake.

How to right-size before you sign

1. List every user and what they do in the system. Create orders/invoices/journal entries → full user. Approve, view, check stock, post time → Team Member.
2. Answer one question: do we manufacture or dispatch service techs under contract? No → Essentials for all full users.
3. Check what your partner quoted against that list. If the numbers don't match, ask why in writing.
4. Remember the no-mixing rule: Essentials and Premium cannot coexist in the same company. If one department genuinely needs manufacturing, everyone moves to Premium — so that decision deserves real scrutiny.

FAQ

Can we start on Essentials and move to Premium later? Yes, when you actually start manufacturing. The upgrade is a license change, not a re-implementation.

Is there a "Device" license? Yes — for shared warehouse or shop-floor devices, one license per device rather than per person. Ask your partner for current pricing.

Are the prices above current? They are Microsoft's US list prices after the October 2025 increase. Confirm with your partner at quote time; Microsoft revises periodically.

Already on Premium and don't need it? Send us your invoice and user list — within 48 hours we'll tell you what a right-sized setup looks like.

Unsure which plan your team really needs? Free assessment, no commitment — and if you're overpaying, it's the first thing we'll tell you.

Bramvia · bramvia.net